My car. Your car. WeCar

Sometimes biking or using public transit isn’t a viable option, so people keep a car around just in case. But if that eats a hole in the old wallet or makes driving on the regular too tempting, now there’s the WeCar option.

Lane Transit District’s Point2point Solutions expanded Eugene’s WeCar program with Enterprise on April 2 (the program already had cars aimed at UO students). The program’s contract stipulates that it has to pay for itself, not using tax revenue. After a $25 annual membership fee (which buys you $35 in credits), Eugeneans and Springfielders can rent Ford Fusions for $5 or $8 an hour or overnight. Complete information on pricing is available at wkly.ws/191

Point2point Program Manager Theresa Brand says that car-sharing can have significant impact in lowering CO2 emissions. “Statistics show, nationally, that car sharing vehicles take between 11 and 15 cars off the road.” By taking cars off the road, and with high participation, other vehicles can spend less time stuck in traffic because of lowered congestion.

There’s another benefit on the pocketbook as well: “They are fuel-efficient so they might not be burning the national average of 21, 22 miles per gallon, they’re getting high 30s to 40s in these vehicles, which saves money and saves CO2,” Brand says.